Germans call in sick more than 20 days per year on average, much more than workers in other EU countries.
Without the increase in sick days, the German economy could have grown by around 0.5% in 2023, instead of retracting by 0.3%, a study by pharma industry association vfa estimated last year.
Even if, good for them. The industry is all but collapsed and corporate white collar jobs are not really worth doing.
Without the increase in sick days, the German economy could have grown by around 0.5% in 2023, instead of retracting by 0.3%
that’s not true: The system when and how Germans had to call in sick had changed 2 times due COVID, which affected the numbers.
Do you suspect it is a data alignment issue causing the discrepancy? Germany is very high up compared to other countries:
No, during COVID Germans gained the right to call their doctor, instead of visiting, to get a certificate of incapacity, so they would not risk to infect others on the way to the doctor. This had the side effect of more sicknesses being official and registered. Previously short sicknesses went undocumented, because the employer has to pay the employee in Germany for sick leave for 7 weeks anyway and only at the 3rd day a certificate, which makes it official, is required. So people sick for only 1 or 2 days are now popping up in the statistics, even though they were likely like that all the time, but unofficially.
Mental health days!
